


An Engineer Fixes a Leg

by BogDing



Series: Blade of Lance-Marmora [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Nail Biting, Other, hunk stress bites his nails esp during anxiety attacks, i wanted to make them closer in this au as well, im using my own anxiety attacks as inspiration, lance and hunk are soul friends heck ye, lance and hunk's friendship is pure and good TM, let them be friends here too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 07:13:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11962371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BogDing/pseuds/BogDing
Summary: "Holy shit.""Neat huh?""H o l y s h i t.""You okay there buddy?"





	An Engineer Fixes a Leg

**Author's Note:**

> Lance and Hunk bonding short!  
> Alternatively: Lance helps Hunk through an anxiety attack and Hunk fixes his leg  
> also: why is pidge the one always written fixing shiro's arm? she's not exactly an engineer, she's mostly a software designer/hacker, why the heck would she be going anywhere near shiro's arm when hunk is a perfectly good engineer and knows his shit? give my yellow son his credit pls

Everything felt floaty.

Hunk had to remind himself to breathe every few moments, his leg bouncing beside him as he stared down at his hands. Okay, he's cool, he's calm, there's absolutely no reason to feel the striking paranoia currently frothing his mind and making his thoughts fuzzy, too slow or too fast to catch and make complete sense of.

He knew he shouldn't have skipped breakfast this morning, but the goo was just so... tasteless? And he really, really hadn't been in the mood to wrestle with his own appetite to force the food goo down his throat for some sort of nutrition, and now he was paying for it. He didn't even feel hungry really. In fact, his entire abdomen just felt empty and numb, a sickening sensation that he guessed probably felt similar to getting his guts torn out of him and leaving him to mummify in a large crypt.

He brought his hand up and reflexively began to bite his nails, elbows leaning on the table in front of him as he tuned out the others, trying to calm himself down somewhat, even as his leg began bouncing stronger, jiggling the table annoyingly for the others. He didn't pay any mind to his team as they broke up their debriefing, filtering out of the room one at a time till Hunk was practically alone. He was so consumed within the swirling murk of his mind that he couldn't even hear Yellow's soft grumbles or notice the figure extending his hand out to grasp the larger man's shoulder, squeezing it lightly as he called Hunk's name.

The larger man jolted out of his mind, ripping his hand away from his mouth, taking out a sizable chunk of nail and tearing into the soft, sensitive skin underneath it painfully. Hunk muffled a soft curse, tightening his hand into a fist, using his palm to press against the slightly bleeding nail bed to stop the soft trickle of the red liquid. He swallowed heavily, turning his golden gaze up to his surprise companion, anxiety rising up within him as he saw Lance's frowning face above him.

"Hey man, you okay? You look kinda pale there," Lance mumbled softly, keeping his voice low and Hunk felt his anxiety quell some at the tone. Lance didn't sound accusatory, wasn't too loud, and wasn't angry either. The soft tone of his voice told of his concern for the other and that sent a bolt of calm through Hunk in that brief moment.

Hunk felt his cheeks warm somewhat in embarrassment, nodding jerkily even as his lips twisted up in a grimacing grin, "Yeah I'm-yeah, fine, good I'm swell-yeah, great," he stumbled over his words, tongue lying thick and uncomfortable in his mouth, the cloying claws of his anxiety threatening to pierce his chest painfully and turn this anxiety attack into a full blown panic attack. Nice job Hunk, working yourself up even more when you're in the middle of an episode. He swallowed thickly again and shook his head with a small sigh, "I just-anxiety, y'know? Not a happy thing, I'll get over it."

Lance paused, seeming to hesitate as his blue eyes roamed over Hunk's face, opening and shutting his mouth twice before clearing his throat and speaking again, "Oh, I see... do you-uh, need help? Like with calming down? Is there any way I can help you through it?"

Hunk's eyes widened and he paused, simply staring up at Lance for a few moments before smiling awkwardly, nodding slightly as he did so, "I-yeah, that'd-that'd be nice," the larger man shrugged lightly and sighed, "Uh I just-I don't know? Can you maybe just-just distract me somehow?"

Lance hummed, blue eyes sparkling lightly as he nodded, motioning for Hunk to scooch over so he could sit next to his team mate. They'd grown closer the past two weeks, but neither Lance or Hunk could comfortably call one another friends at this point of time. Hunk liked Lance, but he was still nervous and jittery around the other, while Lance tried to still keep some distance between the two of them to respect Hunk's boundaries. 

They were getting there though! Just, slowly. This was honestly the first time the two of them had been alone for a longer period of time without someone else barging between them, either Pidge asking for Hunk's help with some tech or Keith stealing Hunk away for some training with Pidge. It was kind of painful watching Lance shut away slightly whenever it happened, but what could Hunk really do? He and Lance were good with one another, but e didn't know if Lance would be comfortable with Hunk calling him his friend at this point! He'd rushed into friendships before and they ended up messy and uncomfortable; he didn't want that to happen here in Voltron too!

Hunk was broken out of his slowly spiraling thoughts by Lance pulling up his left leg, the mechanical prosthetic making some not-good-at-all sounds that made Hunk's fingers twitch anxiously, itching to open it up and fix whatever was causing that weird buzzing-rattle sound inside the beautiful piece of tech. Hunk looked up at Lance questioningly, and Lance shrugged with an awkward grin, "I noticed that you, uh, like working on machines when you're thinking... and I kinda need someone to check my leg, it's been acting up a lot recently so I thought-I mean, only if you want to-check it out?"

Hunk blinked and jerked his head slightly in a nod, moving so he sat cross-legged on the couch, patting the empty space in invitation. Lance lifted his leg and placed it in the crook between Hunk's, reaching over some to tap at the two buttons at the top of the leg before snapping open a clasp. The mechanical leg opened with a hiss and a soft puff of steam-the smell reminding Hunk of that of the air that filtered through a laptop or computer-revealing the intricate and beautifully crafted insides of the prosthetic. 

Hunk let out a soft, appreciative breath, gold eyes going wide in surprise as he stared at it. He could see through the purple glinting wires as what looked like a coolant liquid filtered through them, bringing it around the tightly packed mechanics of the leg. Springs and cogs ticked slightly and there were several inner vents that released soft puff of air every few moments all around the leg, releasing the build up of hot air that was no doubt generated by all the machinery working together. No wonder the leg acted so much like another limb! With how detailed and thought out the design was-and what seemed like tiny, nearly see through wires sticking out of the area Lance's leg connected to the rest of his flesh body, it seemed to react to neurological stimulation too-it was honestly just a beautifully, complex piece of machinery.

"Holy shit," Hunk whispered in awe, hands slowly reaching out to the open leg. He allowed his fingers to trail over the still working metal reverently, gently moving wires out of the way as he inspected the leg, taking in all the amazing details that were on display.

Lance grinned, relaxing back into the couch arm, watching Hunk slowly touch and gently admire his mechanical leg, "Neat huh?" He asked, smile soft and teasing, ignoring the weird phantom sensations he got from Hunk's soft touches, having grown used to them from how often his leg was maintained back at head quarters. 

Hunk looked up at Lance, eyes wide and shining with curiosity and joy, " _Holy shit!_ " He said again, louder this time, turning his attention back to the machine in his lap, eagerly beginning to dig between the intricate machinery, searching it over for any out of order or placed wires and cogs. He hardly noticed that his anxiety was being replaced with enthusiastic joy, his mind completely consumed with the task at hand.

Lance laughed lightly and shook his head, a bemused smile curling his lips up lightly, "You okay there buddy?"

"This is so amazing," Hunk breathed in awe, "It's so detailed! So smooth in how it works! I've never seen such an amazing prosthetic before! It's like-like a computer! A super computer! It's so cool! I don't have enough words to talk about how cool it is!"

Lance nodded, smiling brightly as Hunk continued to work on his leg, allowing the other man to babble as he worked. They sat there comfortably for over half an hour before Hunk finally managed to find the problem-loosened wires, a cog knocked slightly out of place from a harsh bump during a battle, easily fixable but hard to find if you didn't know what you were looking for. Hunk quickly and easily tightened the wires back in their places, nudging the cog gingerly back into place as well. 

Sitting back with a sigh and a bright smile, Hunk pocketed his small portable screw driver before clapping his hands lightly together, "All done! That should fix your leg up for a while now!"

"Thanks bud!" Lance replied cheerfully, slowly closing his leg, latching and locking the opening mechanism once again, tucking his prosthetic leg under him now. He turned his blue eyes back to Hunk and reached over to pat Hunk's shoulder lightly, "Thanks man, you're a good friend."

Hunk froze briefly in surprise, mind sputtering for a second, before managing to squeak out a small, "Really?"

Lance paused, smiling and reaching his hand back to rub at his neck awkwardly, "I mean-yeah? You're a good guy Hunk and- and I'd... like? To call you my friend? If that's cool with you, of course!"

Hunk stared at Lance for a long moment before grinning widely and nodding, holding his fist up to Lance for a fist bump, Lance hesitating for a moment before bringing his own fist up and bumping the two together, "I'd like that too, dude! And, thanks... for helping with my anxiety attack."

Lance laughed and nodded, "Not a problem, man. We should do this more often."

"I'd like that."


End file.
